he is playing barack obama in these mock debates we have. i don't like him very much anymore, all right? he keeps on beating me up and i keep on going away shaking my head. >> reporter: romney flies to colorado monday to hold a rally that night before hunkering down for final preparations. the president heads to nevada sunday greeting voters that night and then goes behind closed doors for his last-minute preps before flying on to denver on debate day. meanwhile, both presidential campaigns continue to play the expectations game, trying to lower the bar for their candidate. gary. >> thank you very much, paul. >>> the debates are the only way to see the candidates face-to-face, so let's take a look at the debate schedule. as we said, number one, wednesday, october 3rd. can you see it live here on cnn starting 7:00 p.m. eastern time. number two, october 16th, on the campus of hofstra university in long island, new york. our only candy crowley will be moderating that debate. s and then in boca raton, orida, and that's two weeks before election